I. Project Information

The goals of this project were to implement ATLAS as the Enterprise
Workforce Management tool for the Washington Department of Corrections in
order to:

improve the safety and security of staff, inmates and the community while
lowering the potential for legal actions against the State

provide a system that will leverage staff knowledge, improve productivity,
insure consistent output, and standardize the information, as well as the
business rules, across organizational boundaries

detail, track, control and report on all personnel costs to effectively
manage and reduce/improve overtime, absenteeism, utilization of staff resources
and accuracy of collected time.

Provide executives and managers with real-time access to:

detailed expenditures

information to identify specific cost drivers

identify areas for cost reductions

stabilize ongoing deficiencies

accurately report to the Governor, Legislature and Control agencies on
the Department’s budget

This real time information will enable management to ensure that Department
and State policies and procedures are being consistently applied and followed.
This, in and of itself, is a major accomplishment.

Sybase PowerBuilder supplied a highly adaptable front end user interface
residing above a proven database rules engine. The Rapid Application Development
capabilities and DataWindow® component delivered a fast, flexible tool capable
of absorbing a flood of modifications in a short development timeframe. Without
a highly effective RAD capable tool-set, the project would not have achieved
the stated goals in a cost and time effective manner.

Brief description of the business risks involved:

Leading Edge Technology:

ATLAS is fully integrated with the SAP HRMS and Gross Payroll ERP applications
and is the system of record for employee scheduling and time collection. The
Washington

DOC is the world’s first truly enterprise resource planning correctional
facility. No other DOC has an enterprise workforce management solution (ATLAS)
fully integrated with an enterprise resource planning system (SAP).

Limited Resources: The Washington DOC is not a funding rich organization.
As such resources were very limited. The Washington DOC provided 1 full time
‘super user’ and 1 full time IT resource. Emerald City Software provided the
remaining 5 resources.

Business Process Re-engineering:

ATLAS was a positive agent for change. However, the majority of system users
possessed limited computer skills. Many of the change requests encountered
by the 2 project team were intended to simplify a users involvement with the
application. The project team also encountered both a strong willingness and
resistance to change business processes.

Resistance to Management Oversight: Superintendents, as well as correctional
staff, were uncomfortable with Headquarters access to workforce information
in a real-time and un-restricted manner. Correctional facilities are frequently
seen as ‘fiefdoms’ and are frequently run in an autonomous manner; ATLAS is
challenging the status quo and changing this paradigm.

Brief description of how the system helps users:

This system helps users to have a rapid delivery of a full-featured, yet
user-friendly, targeted application to a satisfied customer in order to streamline
the flow of information (improved worker productivity), significantly reduce
manual re-entry of workforce data, provide real time information, increase
security of information, allow for extensive automation of manual reporting
requirements. Also:

Management and union rules are uniformly followed

Users now have a proactive tool to bring about positive changes in their
work environment

II. Organizational Objectives

What short and long-term benefits did the organization achieve from
the project?

Short Term

Identifies the ‘root’ cause of overtime

Full integration of mission critical data

Data mining of key financial data

Improved accuracy of payroll data

15 data silos centralized into one enterprise database

New functionality and reporting toolset for custody personnel now
on-line

Searches, Incidents, Control Logs

Drills, Safety Inspections, Emergency Operations Center

Shift Summary, Master, Multi-Unit and Alpha Roster, Security Roll-up

reports all on-line

Achieving short term cost savings by analyzing the incremental costs
associated with

Extra Posts (temporary work crews in an unfunded position)

Transportation Posts

Long Term

Best Practices are being shared across organizational boundaries

Performance Measurement of key labor indicators

DOC did not have access to KPI’s prior to ATLAS

DOC now has access to real-time financial data

Oxley / Sarbanes compliance tool

Achieve a 2% reduction in gross payroll due to the on-going reduction of
incremental costs associated with

Overtime

Absenteeism

Improve the safety and security of staff, offenders and the community as
a whole by insuring that federal, state, local, management and union rules
are rigorously enforced.

Did the solution meet the projected goals for saving time and money?
This project was completed ahead of project schedule, under budget, and with
significantly more functionality than originally specified in the RFP. There
were no cost change orders associated with this project! This project is now
viewed as the most successful IT project in the history of the Washington
Department of Corrections.

How were benefits measured?
Management is currently focusing on the ATLAS overtime and absenteeism reports
(a grouping of approximately 10 key reports) as the primary benefits measurement
tool.
Executive, Custody (Operations), and Financial Services management utilize
these reports as a means for organizational and financial accountability.

Was the system mission critical to the organization?

Absolutely. In addition to scheduling 4,200 correctional officers to their
positions on a 7 x 24 hour basis, ATLAS tracks the following critical information:

Operation logs from major and minor control

Emergency Operations Center

Searches

Incidents

Safety Drills

Employee Behavior

Incidents

Significant Events

Employee Qualifications

Employee Tombstone Data

Employee Training

This system has been identified as Mission Critical by the Washington Office
of Financial Management, the Department of Information Services and the Department
of Corrections.

Describe the business purpose of the new system:

To implement an operations-based roster management system that is the system
of record for custody pay while providing Custody, Financial Services and Executive
management with the information necessary to make sound policy and fiscal decisions
concerning their workforce and facilities.

Describe the features of the new system:

The features of the new system include a complete operations based Enterprise/Strategic
Workforce Management package.

Explain the functions of the new system:

See Section I, answer a.

Who were the internal sponsors of the project? Which officials
or groups were opposed to developing the application? Why?

Opposition came mainly from the correctional staff members that were resistant
to change and technology.

Were users of the system involved in the project during the planning
and development phases? If so, how?

User Involvement: Management went to great lengths to place key users on
the project steering committee and to conduct monthly meetings with other
key users to update as to enhancements and project progress

Project Pilot: The day-to-day administration of the project pilot was left
to key users at the designated facilities. This led to both user input and
user buy-in.

What were the greatest challenges in completing this project? How
were they overcome?

Limited project resources meant that teams had to be united, well organized
and with a clear understanding of project goals. Team building exercises (limited
due to time) along with involving facilities with the project pilot allowed
members to quickly share lessons learned from the pilot. This allowed for
rapid improvements to both the product and the roll-out to insure that mistakes
weren’t repeated.

Facility Culture: By identifying problematic facilities early in the project
cycle and then involving them with the project pilot, many cultural issues
were overcome prior to rollout of ATLAS at their facility.

Business Process Re-engineering: Executive management empowered the steering
committee to make crucial decisions in a very time-effective manner. Executive
management support enabled these decisions to be implemented with a minimal
amount of facility ‘pushback.’

Project Timeline: ATLAS was brought in to replace an ageing (and we soon
learned dying) application. Rapid roll-out was absolutely critical as the
replaced system was repeatedly ‘crashing’ at facilities throughout the state.

Were the goals changed as the project progressed? If so, what were
the changes and why were they made?

Initially intended as a tool primarily for Roster Managers and Custody
management
(approximately 80 users), the ATLAS user group was expanded to all senior
and middle level management (approximately 900 users), major and minor control
personnel, and executive management. ATLAS is now imaged on all DOC computers
and future roll-outs will include the remaining 4,000 employees in non-custody
positions. The success of the pilot coupled with the breadth and depth of
ATLAS’ features and functionality served as the primary motivation for the
expansion of the user base.

III. Category

E-business Application Development

ATLAS possesses a complete Employee Self Service module that will be implemented
by the DOC in a later phase. Additionally, the Sybase toolset utilized by Emerald
City Software, along with the Sybase partnership with Appeon, enables the ATLAS
solution to be migrated to the web. The DOC has expressed an interest in this
E-business approach and will implement this technology in a future phase.

IV. Methodology/Process

a. Describe how productivity tools or techniques were used in the
project.

Sybase Powerbuilder

Emerald City Software’s Diagnostics Tool

Tools and utilities to assist in the data migration, data configuration and
on-going data quality analysis

Were testing tools used during development? If so, when were they used? Was
the testing cost-effective?

Diagnostics, an ECS proprietary tool, along with ATLAS system administration
utilities were used to assist in testing. The project team used a RAD approach
to system development. Testing was conducted in cycles using subject matter
experts from the user community. Specific documentation was produced directing
testing approach and methodology. The Diagnostics tools did not require an
additional license fees and was a part of the fixed bid.

Was a formal or informal software development life-cycle methodology
employed? If yes, please describe it.

A mix of both formal and informal software development methodology was used
by the team members. Due to the limited number of resources coupled with a
very tight implementation schedule, team members were left with little choice
but to use a modified RAD approach to software development. Business requirement
and technical design documentation was kept to a minimum in order to expedite
the life-cycle. Subject matter experts (SME) rought together on an as-needed
basis for joint application design sessions. The JAD sessions resulted in quick
screen mock-ups of intended business processes and, once approved, where finalized
and implemented in the Test and Quality Assurance databases for SME sign-off.
The Steering Committee provided oversight for all enhancement requests and
monitored any discrepancies generated by the application.

What formal or informal project management methodologies and/or tools were
used to manage the project? If used, please describe how.

A formal approach to project management was used to manage all components
of the project. From detailed business objectives to an integrated business
solution that provided the governance and project structure, the quality management
plan, identified critical success factors, integrated milestones and assessed
risk a classic approach to project management was undertaken by the Steering
Committee. Microsoft Project was the primary tool used to manage the integrated
project plan. Other methodologies/processes included a detailed communications
plan, risk register, change management approach, project resources analysis,
quality management plan and approach to reports, interfaces and conversions.

Were software quality metrics used? If so, what were they, and did using
them significantly help the project?

Due to team size, workload of the resources and limited project timeline,
software quality metrics were used only during the weekly discussions regarding
the issues log. Simple metric calculations as to the number of issues, if certain
issues upon resolution reoccurred and the number of true product issue as compared
to both user training issues and data migration issues were calculated to determine
the relative quality of the software being developed.

V. Technology

What were the major technical challenges that had to be overcome
to complete the project successfully? How did the team respond to those challenges?

System Performance: The DOC uses a WAN that encompasses the entire state
of Washington. This WAN, which is shared with other state agencies, can produce
significant transmission bottlenecks. Therefore, several critical business
processes that were client ‘heavy’ were re-written using Transact SQL. This
resolved any of the performance issues.

What software tools, including databases, operating systems and all development
tools, were selected for the project? Why were they selected over competing
tools? What process was used to select development tools and software platforms?

Sybase PowerBuilder (Development Tool): Selected by the Vendor for its
outstanding 4GL capabilities.

Describe the overall system architecture. Were elements of the technical
infrastructure where put in place to support the new system? Please describe.

System Architecture:

Network – The Department’s WAN supports small to large community corrections
offices, work release facilities, and state prisons. The network consists of
a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) based private Intranet
residing behind a firewall. All sites are homerun (a star-like topology) to
the Department of Information Services (DIS) in Olympia, Washington using Routers
via a TCP/IP-based frame relay circuits (56K, Fractional T1, and T1). The central
router is a Channel Interface Processor (CIP) attached to an IBM mainframe.
The permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) within the Department’s frame relay network
run point-to-point into T1 circuits at the data centers. Most Department prison
sites will have an ISDN backup circuit installed while the field sites will
utilize a plain old telephone service (POTS) line providing each router with
synchronous or asynchronous dial backup capability to the Department of Information
Service’s Data Center (DIS-DC). The DOC is currently working with DIS on a
project to move our circuits to the DIS Backbone. This will take approximately
18 months and will enhance disaster recovery while providing for some redundancy
(meshing) of the circuits.

Intranet – The Department utilizes its own Intranet and employs a firewall
at the DIS-DC for LAN and WAN network security from all external (non-DOC)
entities.

Routers – routers have been deployed at all Department community corrections
offices, work release facilities and at prison sites. There are a number of
small, one to two staff member offices dialing into routers located at larger
offices (within a local phone call area). Mobile community corrections officers
also use laptop computers in the field to work closely with police agencies.
Equipped with cellular modems, their laptop computers communicate with the
host computers and file servers in Olympia.

LANs – Ethernet LANs are attached to all Department routers. The Department’s
routers utilize TCP/IP for all WAN communications. The Department’s connection
to the Internet is through a service offered by the DIS-DC. The Department’s
LAN sites are connected locally via a 10/100, or soon to be 1000 Meg Ethernet
backbone.

Servers – There are approximately 70 servers currently installed in single
domain architecture at the Department’s Headquarters and major institutions,
while each of the remaining locations have from two to 100 users running peer-to-peer
networking with no dedicated servers at this time. The Department will be installing
dedicated servers at some of these locations over the next few years.

Technical Infrastructure Changes: Roster Managers, Captains, Lieutenants,
and Payroll Liaisons received upgraded p.c.’s. These individuals had not received
new equipment in over 4 years.

What characteristics of the tools and technologies used were most important
in achieving the business purposes of the system?

Sybase PowerBuilder’s rapid development capabilities were a primary factor
in the successful implementation. PowerBuilder’s adaptability enabled multitudinous
changes to be made on the fly - keeping the project on schedule.

VI. Project Team

What was the size of the development team?

Development Team:

Three expert level Powerbuilder Developers

Two senior level business analysts

Two senior level testers.

Implementation Team

DOC

One ‘super-user’

One IT liaison

Steering Committee members from Custody, Financial Services, Human Resources
and IT

Emerald City Software

One technical implementation resource

Training Lead

Two facility leads for on-sight implementations and on-the-job training

One project manager

Describe the software development experience of the team members.

The two of the three developers utilized on the ATLAS implementation project
are Certified Professional Developers with over 10 years of PowerBuilder experience.
The remaining developer has 7 years of PowerBuilder experience.

What was the composition and skill level of the team? Did development
teams require training to work with the technology?

The majority of the DOC members on the project had never been associated
with a software development and implementation project. All members of the
ECS team had extensive experience in both the development and implementation
of enterprise workforce management software.

How many person-months/days did the project take, and over what
calendar time frame? Was a formal schedule created at the start of the project?
Did the project stay on schedule?

Approximately 1,635 person days were required over an 11 month period to
successfully implement ATLAS at 15 facilities for approximately 900 users.
A formal schedule was created as a part of the project charter. Project slippage
occurred during the pilot; it was intend to last 45 days but was concluded
after a total of 82 days. This lapse in time was easily made up during the
rollout portion of the project. The project was concluded 31 days ahead of
schedule.

Did management and the user community consider the project a success?

The ATLAS implementation project is now considered the most successful software
implementation in the history of the Washington DOC. Intended for approximately
75 users, ATLAS now has nearly 900 users and has gained wide acceptance throughout
the agency.

If you had to do the project over again, would you do anything differently?
If yes, please explain why.

Lessons Learned

Local Steering Committees, started during the second wave of the rollout,
should be started upon completion of the project charter. These committees
were comprised of an Associate Superintendent, Captain, LT, Sergeant, Roster
Manager and payroll and were found to be necessary to keep the project on
course and to provide a feedback mechanism for sites to communicate with the
project Steering Committee.

Spend more time at the beginning of the project resolving the Business
Process Reengineering issues.